We Need to Talk About This

Eating an ice-cream on the hard shoulder of the motorway. Going on a romantic weekend away in next door’s shed. Enjoying a post-Sunday lunch walk at Gatwick Airport. Context is everything when it comes to enjoyment.

I’ve always had a fascination for technology but as a woman, a career in tech has always felt a little bit like the scenarios mentioned above; something I should be enjoying but that wasn’t completely comfortable. So when I attended the first TechHer conference in 2017, it felt like a little piece of the world had slotted into its rightful place, and I had found a context for that immersion in technology that I could genuinely enjoy, combined with a shared experience and a strong sense of community.

Six years later, I’m incredibly proud to be studying the agenda for the ninth TechHer conference which is being held at the Microsoft Campus in Reading on 30th March. The diversity of passions behind the briefings is fantastic; we have sessions covering many different technical and development subjects. However, the session that makes me most proud to be part of TechHer is the one covering perimenopause and menopause.

If we have got things right, and successfully created a culture where women grow and thrive in tech, 100% of those women will be affected by menopause within their working life.  If you start from that point, the question should be, why has it taken this long for tech conferences to include sessions on menopause? There are a lot of answers to that question which touch on respect, inclusivity, allyship, awareness, understanding women’s health matters and an increasing unwillingness to pretend that we don’t evolve as we get older. To be honest, the long and tortuous route that we’ve taken to get here is similar to the route we’ve taken to get to all sorts of points of enlightenment, but the most important thing is we are here, and we are running a session on menopause at TechHer.

If tech is going to be a great place for women, or even an acceptable place for women, we have to be able to talk openly and honestly about our own experiences, with all audiences. We must never feel that our life stage is going to be used for discriminatory purposes against us. Every single workplace needs to make a safe space for this discussion, every single woman must feel that she can articulate what support she needs as she goes through these compulsory life changes.

But the truth is, as I write these words, a little part of me is curling up into a defensive ball at the thought of going into work, sharing my hormonal status and asking for something more than my colleagues need. The weight of the status quo bears down on me as I think about it. I’m disappointed in my own reaction.

So that is why this session on menopause is the most important session for me at TechHer this March. It’s that last little bit of context which is missing to make the experience of a lifelong career in tech a truly enjoyable thing. Let’s shake this subject free of historical misperceptions and take our ice-creams to the beach where we can truly, fully enjoy ourselves. See you there.

View the sessions and register for TechHer on 30th March at TechHer - Microsoft UK